Posted by Mike (WA) on May 19, 2009 at 16:03:45 from (69.10.199.245):
In Reply to: The Home Place posted by 37 chief on May 19, 2009 at 11:53:58:
Don't have a lot to contribute on my own behalf (Dad bought the home place in 1948 (110 acres), kind of a hard-scrabble place that was all he could afford- dairied until 1960, sold in 1973, buyers still there). But I went to an "open house" for locker meat customers of the Colvin Ranch near Tenino, WA last Saturday. Fred Colvin, who I went to school with, is fourth generation on the ranch- 560 acres (which is huge for this area)- his great-grandfather Ignatius Colvin homesteaded it in 1854, and it has come down through the family. Ignatius owned the whole valley- 3,000 acres- at one time, but the family ran heavy to girls, and of course none of them wanted to farm- so parts gradually sold off through the years, down to present size. The ranch house was built in the 1850's, and the place is on the Oregon Trail (after a fire, Fred saw wagon tracks when he was a kid). House was a way-station for stage coaches, each bedroom on ground floor has a door to the outside for the convenience of the guests. He sold the developement rights to the state for nearly a million bucks a few years ago, has the money invested at interest (thankfully, not in the stock market), and his sisters have agreed to split that money as their birthright when his mom dies (she's 96, still going strong- she remembered me from when I came over to do a social studies project with Fred about 50 years ago!).
Fred's doing a great job managing the ranch and keeping the heritage alive. Started selling "grass fed" beef a few years ago. Also, since he hated haying and was not mechanically inclined, he "pencilled out" the possibility of buying feeder calves in the spring to eat what they would have put up for hay, and using the proceeds to buy hay- says it is just about a push, and he so pleased not to have to deal with making hay in the solar-challenged Pacific Northwest.
He's really keyed into the heritage of the ranch (and his responsibility for carrying it on)- but not too sure what will happen with the next generation (two daughters).
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